Apparatus for coating articles



April 27, 1954 A APPARATUS FOR COATING ARTICLES Filed May 13, 1950 IN l/E N TOR A N G A) A7' TORNEY Patented Apr. 27, 1954 APPARATUS FOR C OATING ARTICLES Alvin N. Gray, Edgewood, Md., assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 13, 1950, Serial No. 161,818

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to apparatus for coating articles, and more particularly to apparatus for painting covered conductors.

In applying coatings to articles, for example, in applying paint to insulated conductors, it is essential to cover the portions of the articles to be painted completely with paint but it is undesirable to use more paint than is needed to just cover the articles. Sometimes articles are painted with brushes, but this method of painting require large quantities of paint per unit area painted and does not coat articles uniformly. Air sprays also have been used. to paint articles, but in this method of painting, much of the spray misses the article to be painted, thereby wasting paint. A further method of painting consisted of immersing an article in a bath of paint, withdrawing the article and wiping as much of excess paint applied to the article as possible.

The latter method also uses more paint than is needed for coverage and does not coat the articles uniformly.

An object of the invention is to provide new and improved apparatus for coating articles.

A further object of the invention is to provide new and improved apparatus for painting covered conductors.

An apparatus illustrating certain features of the invention may include a chamber through which an article to be coated may be advanced, and means for creating mechanically a suspension of fine particles of liquid in the chamber, whereby the particles of liquid precipitate onto the article to coat it.

A complete understanding of the invention may be obtained from the following detailed description of an apparatus formin a specific embodiment thereof, when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation of an apparatus forming one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, horizontal section taken along line 3-4 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical section taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, a covered conductor it Which is to be coated with paint 28 is advanced from a supply reel it around a guide sheave l i, then upwardly through a closefitting entrance seal :5 into a painting chamber [5. The conductor passes through the chamber I6 and leaves it through an exit opening 18. The conductor 40 is advanced continuously from the chamber it through a drier 2t and around a guide sheave 2! by a capstan 22, and is taken up on a takeup reel 24.

A pump 26 driven by an electric motor 21 pumps paint 28 held in a reservoir 33 connected to a catch basin 29 cf the chamber [6 to atomizing nozzles 3il50 positioned in the chamber It The paint is supplied to the chamber 1 6 through a supply pipe ill as needed. The paint 28 is forced through the nozzles 303i1 under high pressure, and the nozzles 3il-3l! atomize the paint to a fine mist directed toward the portion of the conductor in the chamber It. The mist is directed toward annular baflies 32-32 positioned between the nozzles til-36 and the conductor [0.

The baflies 32-32 prevent oversized particles of the paint from traveling toward the conductor Hi, but permit fine particles of the paint 28 to travel therepast and remain in suspension in the chamber 15. The fine particles contact the covered conductor It completely therearound, and deposit thereon in a thin layer which has a uniform thickness over the entire exterior surface of the covered conductor so that excess paint is not required to coat the covered conductor completely.

Each of the nozzles 3ll3t includes a tubular housing 48 and an insert 4! having longitudinal passages 42A2, a bore i3 and transverse turbulating passages 45-65 tangential to the bore 43. A cap 46 holds a disc 4? against the insert, and the disc has a small orifice 48 extending therethrough. The nozzles create a very fine mist leaving the orifices illustrated by the orifice 48.

The exit opening I8 is sufficiently large to prevent contact thereof with the coated conductor III as the conductor passes therethrough, but is sufficiently small to permit only negligible quantities of the paint mist to drift therethrough out of the chamber. Furthermore, since the opening I8 is located at the top of the chamber it, gravity aids in preventing escape of the particles from the chamber. The conductor ill is not contacted mechanically until it has left the driver 2%, and is engaged by the guide sheave 2! at which time the paint has been dried on the conductor. The oversized particles of paint caught by the baffles 32-32 drop back into the catch basin 29 in the chamber I6 and return to the reservoir 33.

The fine mist of paint produced by the atomizing nozzles 3il3fl and the baiiles 32-32 fills the entire upper portion of the chamber 16 so that all portions of the covered conductor It are contacted by the mist and covered therewith. In coating the covered conductor with a mist, the coating applied to the covered conductor is very 3 thin and evenly distributed thereon. Hence, no excess paint is required for coating the conductor with the mist. Furthermore, large quantities of the paint are not wasted as in painting apparatus utilizin air sprays, because in creating the mist mechanically by pressure on the liquid forced through the nozzles or mechanical agitation, as distinguished from air sprays, or the like, no pressures tending to force the mist out of the apparatus are created.

What is claimed is:

An apparatus for painting a conductor, which comprises a chamber having a bottom provided with a raised central portion having an entrance opening therein, said chamber also being pro vided with a top having an exit opening aligned with the entrance opening therein, a seal mounted in the entrance opening permitting a conductor to be advanced therethrough, a group of annular, wedge-shaped battles of a predetermined external diameter, a plurality of rods secured to the top and bottom of the chamber, a plurality of spacers mounted on the rods and mounting the baffles centrally in the chamber in positions extending in a series from the entrance opening to the exit opening and spaced from one another, a second group of annular, wedge-shaped baflies of an internal diameter greater than the external diameter of the first-mentioned bafiles, a plurality of rods secured to the top and the bottom of the chamber in positions outside the first-mentioned bafiles, a plurality of spacers mounted on the last-mentioned rods and mounting the baffle of the second group in the chamber in positions covering the spaces between the baflles of the first group, and means positioned in th chamber outside the baffles for projecting a fog of paint toward the baffies.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,160,980 Geer Nov. 16', 1915 1,547,513 Morden July 28, 19 2,069,845 Paasche Feb. 9, 1937 2,319,353 Schwartz et a1 May 18, 1943 2,437,606 Kaufman Mar. 9, 1948 2,447,664 Pegg Aug. 24, 1948 

